


The Enchanting Tale (The Tale of Pleasing Woe)

by seekrest



Series: Twelve Days of Terror: A Whumptober Collection [4]
Category: Doctor Who (2005), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: (Obviously), (if you squint), Angst, Doctor Who AU, Hopeful Ending, Hurt Peter Parker, Hurt/Comfort, Peter is Amy and MJ is Rory, Protective Michelle Jones, Protective Peter Parker, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony is the doctor, Whumptober 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-09
Updated: 2019-10-09
Packaged: 2020-11-28 14:01:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20967734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seekrest/pseuds/seekrest
Summary: Peter had always loved the crazy mad man with a box.Iron Man, he’d called him - falling from the sky, crash landing into the backyard of his quiet Queens neighborhood.Jetting off to worlds unknown, fights against aliens and monsters and beasts below. Peter smiled at the memory - the first time that the Doctor had saved him.But feeling Michelle leave his side on a dark rooftop in Manhattan, keeping his eyes on the angel in front of him, Peter wondered if the Doctor could save them from this.





	The Enchanting Tale (The Tale of Pleasing Woe)

**Author's Note:**

> Prompts: Sacrifice / Shaky Hands
> 
> First prompt from hailingstar’s Halloween prompt list!
> 
> It’s an Angels Take Manhattan/MCU mashup - brought to you by whumptober & my crying 
> 
> <3

Peter had always loved the crazy mad man with a box.

Iron Man, he’d called him - falling from the sky, crash landing into the backyard of his quiet Queens neighborhood, fumbling around his shed with tools and a welding mask attached to his head. When Peter was older, he would wonder why no one else seemed interested or curious at what had happened that cold October night.

But then Peter figured, New Yorkers had seen crazier things. 

And Peter - whose unimaginably quiet and relatively boring life - had been nothing short of crazy since the Doctor has come back into his life.

Jetting off to worlds unknown, fights against aliens and monsters and beasts below. Peter almost smiled at the memory of that first adventure in space, when he’d saved a whale - the first time that the Doctor had saved him.

But feeling Michelle leave his side on a dark rooftop in Manhattan, Peter keeping his eyes on the angel in front of him, he wondered if the Doctor could save them from this. 

“Is there a way down?” Peter asks, his eyes focused on the towering angel in front of him.

He hears Michelle sigh. “No. But there is a way out.”

Peter feels a chill at her tone. 

“MJ, what are you doing?” She doesn’t answer, Peter taking a step back before turning - risking everything only for his stomach to fall, seeing Michelle standing on the ledge. 

“MJ, stop it. You’ll die.”

“Yeah, twice. On the same building on the same night.” Michelle laughs though there’s no humor in it as she stares back at the angel, Peter searching her face. “Who else could do that?”

Peter feels the dread in his stomach, the impossibility of what she was saying.

Michelle had waited for him for over a thousand years, keeping guard - keeping watch - becoming a myth and a legend. She’d died, over and over again - Peter thinking that it was an impossible thing to be loved by her, a love that spanned the centuries.

Seeing her tonight, another her - an old woman in a lonely room - the surprise on her face at seeing Peter again, the sinking feeling in his gut at the knowledge that Michelle - _ any _ Michelle - had been without him caused him so much pain.

The paradox was possible - a way to erase it from ever happening. 

They could fight. They could run. Peter would go anywhere for her, just as he knew that she would go anywhere for him.

But he couldn’t allow her to do this.

“Just come down. Please, MJ.”

Michelle shakes her head, insistent. “It’s the right thing to do. This will work. If I die now, it’s a paradox right? The paradox kills the angels. Go on. Tell me I’m wrong.”

Michelle swallows, Peter seeing the fear in her eyes even if she wouldn’t admit it - even as she still faced forward as he walked up to her, taking her hand.

“Peter--”

“Stop this.” He begs, knowing it’ll fall on deaf ears. Knowing that he’d spend lifetimes trying to change her mind, knowing that in any universe - Michelle would be there with him. 

That in any universe they were meant for each other. 

That in any universe he’d do anything to save her.

“Think it through, Pete. This will work.” She leans backwards, Peter grabbing on to her shirt - holding her tightly as the terror floods through him.

“It’ll kill the angels.” Michelle says, Peter shaking his head.

“It’ll kill you too.”

“Will it?” Michelle exclaims. “This place would be erased from time, never existed. If this place never existed, then what did I fall off from?”

“You think you’ll come back to life?” Peter asks, shaking his head even more.

“When don’t I?” Michelle yells, Peter seeing as she grinds her teeth, tears forming in her eyes. “Anyway, what else is there? Dying of old age, downstairs? Never seeing you again? Peter, please.” 

Michelle takes a deep breath, Peter’s hand shaking as he holds on to her. “If you love me, let me go.”

“MJ, I can’t.” Peter whispers.

“You have to.” Michelle’s voice wavers.

“Could you?” Peter feels the sob in his throat, feels the hot tears streaming down his face. “If it was me, could you do it?”

Michelle’s voice is steady this time, resigned - a love so strong in it that Peter wonders what he ever did to deserve it.

“To save you? I’d do anything.” 

Peter closes his eyes, his shoulders shuddering. He can’t allow her to do this, can’t think of doing this. To lose her - _ again _. 

Peter goes towards the ledge, seeing Michelle’s eyes widen as he comes up beside her, Michelle turning to face him.

“Prove it.” Peter challenges, Michelle shaking her head.

“No Peter, I can’t let you do this.”

“You said,” Peter takes her hand, “that we’d come back to life. Come on, MJ. Money where your mouth is.” 

“Peter--”

“MJ.” 

They stare at each other, Peter knowing they could be seconds away from the angel overtaking them. But then he sees the glint of something in Michelle’s eye, an understanding between them that only a love like theirs could explain.

It spanned centuries.

Galaxies.

Time and space. 

“Together.” She finally says, her grip in Peter’s hand tightening.

“Together,” Peter nods, “Or not at all.”

The Doctor bursts through the door on the roof, Peter hearing the terror in his voice.

“What the hell are you doing?”

Peter smiles at Michelle before saying, “Changing the future.”

Michelle smiles back, bringing a hand to his face. “It’s called marriage.”

“Peter? PETER.” The Doctor yells out, but Peter sees Michelle -- only Michelle -- as they lean over the ledge and fall down.

Together.

* * *

The Doctor sees them as soon as they sit up, running up to them.

“Where are we?” He hears Michelle asks, the joy in his voice undeniable. 

“Back where we started! You collapsed the timeline, the paradox worked and we all pinged back to where we belong!” He sees the confused looks on their faces.

“What, in a graveyard?” Michelle asks, Peter shaking his head in confusion.

“This happened last time. Why always here?” 

The Doctor waves his hands. “Does it matter? We got lucky. We could’ve blown New York off the planet.” He shrugs. “I can’t ever take the TARDIS back there, the timelines are too scrambled.”

He hugs and kisses them both, the relief overwhelming him. “I could have lost you both. Don’t _ ever _do that again.”

Peter laughs, the Doctor bringing another hand to his face before turning to Michelle as she grins. 

“Next time, can we just go to a bar or something?” She asks. 

The Doctor laughs, moving forward to the TARDIS.

“Yeah let’s go. Are there video games there? I love video games.” 

He walks towards it, hearing Peter and Michelle behind him before Michelle’s voice rings out. 

“Peter, wait come and see this.”

The Doctor is looking towards the TARDIS, too relieved to consider the possibility of danger - hearing Peter turn back to her and saying, “What?”

“There’s a gravestone here for someone with the same name as me.” 

A chill runs down the Doctor’s spine, turning around. But before can stop it, he sees it - just as Peter does - Michelle vanishing, an angel behind her.

“Doctor!” Peter yells, standing in place as he rushes towards him. 

“Where the hell did that come from?” Peter asks, the Doctor shaking his head in disbelief.

“It’s a survivor. Very weak, but keep your eyes on it.”

Peter’s voice trembles, the Doctor seeing his hand shaking.

“Where’s MJ?”

The Doctor quietly steps forward, looking towards the headstone - knowing before he sees it what it will say. 

Michelle Jones-Parker

Aged 87

The guilt, the grief - it’s instantaneous, overwhelming as it washes over him. He’d done it again, he’d failed to save her. But it was the idea of what this would do to Peter that breaks him. 

“I’m sorry, Peter. I’m so, so sorry.” The Doctor says, walking back behind him.

He sees Peter frantically shaking his head, his voice shaking. 

“No. No, we can just go back and get her in the TARDIS. One more paradox--”

“Would rip New York apart.” The Doctor whispers, his soul aching at the loss in front of him. 

Peter seems to consider this, seemingly knowing that he’s right - knowing that there’s nothing they can do to fix it.

Peter had always been so smart - of dozens of companions, of all his faces and lifetimes, the Doctor doesn’t know if he’s ever felt a love like he has for Peter. 

A love like a son, a love that is broken at the idea of Peter losing Michelle - knowing what her deaths have meant to him every single time. 

But then Peter’s face changes, a resolve in his eyes that scares the Doctor - something his quick mind can’t begin to comprehend, much less accept. 

“There’s room for one more name, isn’t there?” 

The Doctor shakes his head, refusing to acknowledge what Peter is asking - what Peter is intending. 

He can’t allow it, it can’t happen. 

He’s already lost Michelle. 

He can’t lose Peter too. 

“Peter, back away from the angel. Come back to the TARDIS, we’ll figure something out.” He pleads, hoping that Peter will listen. 

“The angel,” Peter says, his voice getting stronger even as his hand continues to shake. “Would it send me back to the same time? To her?”

The Doctor shakes his own head furiously, anger in his voice. “I don’t know, nobody knows.”

“But it’s my best shot?”

“No!” The Doctor yells, heart breaking at seeing the resolve growing stronger in Peter’s eyes. He can’t allow this, he can’t - Peter can’t do this to him. 

“Well then, I just have to blink right? It’ll be fine. I know it will. I’ll be with her, like I should be. Me and MJ, together.”

“No. No, stop it. Stop it, Peter.” 

Peter takes another breath, another step towards the angel as the Doctor panics.

“Look after yourself, Doctor. Be good, and look after yourself. Don’t be alone.” Peter’s voice is steady now, resigned in a way that the Doctor can’t bring himself to accept. 

“You are creating a _ fixed point in time. _ ” The Doctor pleads, the agony in his voice as Peter steps forward. “I will _ never _ be able to see you again.”

“I’ll be fine.” Peter’s voice breaks. “I’ll be with her.” 

“Peter, please.” The Doctor begs, tears streaming down his face. “Please just come back into the TARDIS. 

A sob makes the Doctor’s shoulders shudder as he extends out a hand. He can’t lose him, he can’t lose Peter - not now, not ever.

“Come along, Pete, please.” 

Peter takes another breath, turning his back to the angel - his eyes piercing straight into the Doctor’s soul - love and agony and acceptance in his brown eyes.

“Iron Man… goodbye.” 

And then he vanishes, the Doctor feeling as if he’s been gutted straight through - alone in a graveyard except for the angel in front of him.

As the Doctor sobs ring out, the loss completely overwhelming him - the pain of knowing he can never return, the sacrifice that Peter had just given making him stagger backwards to the TARDIS, he closes the TARDIS door behind him, his cries filling the horribly empty room.

Peter’s last goodbye rings into his ear, the request to take care of himself still lingering in the air as he goes to leave - knowing there’s nothing left for him on this planet. 

Knowing that a new name appeared on the headstone. 

One that the Doctor doesn’t even have to look to see, the knowledge that they’re together doing nothing to ease his pain. 

As the Doctor flies away, the angel still standing guard, a breeze brushed past the headstone - a whispered goodbye laced with love.

Michelle Jones-Parker

Aged 87

And her loving husband Peter Parker

Aged 82


End file.
